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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25104565">A Force of Habit</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatQuietKid/pseuds/ThatQuietKid'>ThatQuietKid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Even Minerva McGonagall, Everyone ships Wolfstar, Fluff, Hugs, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), No Smut, One Shot, Pining Remus Lupin, Pining Sirius Black, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Remus Lupin, So mush fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wingman James Potter, no Peter Pettigrew, wolfstar</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:55:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,583</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25104565</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatQuietKid/pseuds/ThatQuietKid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus tends to hug anyone that will open their arms to offer one. It's simply a habit born from thousands of hugs given by his loving parents. When he accidentally lets slip to Sirius this odd habit his long time crush begins to form a plan.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sirius Black/Remus Lupin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>333</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Force of Habit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello! Thank you for reading. I just wanted to warn you that i wrote this at like one in the morning so i doubt it will be good. Nonetheless, enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Remus loves hugs. Back home his parents always seemed to know when he needed one. After every nightmare he would wake up and find one of them next to his bed, arms open and ready to give comfort. After every painful transformation they would be right there, uncaring for the blood he always got on their clothes. Even for the small things, they were there. If he was sad after reading a particularly heartbreaking novel or finding out that one of his favorite plants died they would open their arms wide and wait for him to enter their warm embrace. It became a habit eventually. Every time he sees arms open and inviting he knows that he can go hug that person, and they will in turn wrap their arms around him and keep him warm and safe from the scary world around him.</p><p>It was probably a mistake to mention it to his friends, but in his defense it was at 6:00 A.M and he has never been a morning person.</p><p>It all started with Sirius mentioning one of his weird habits and spiraled from there.</p><p>“Y’know,” He had begun, “I always condition my hair first. I’m not even sure why.”</p><p>“What?” James had exclaimed in reply, making Remus wince at how loud it was. At that moment Remus was glad that Peter was in the hospital wing for a nasty case of the dragon pox and would be staying there for quite some time. Otherwise he would have just been woken up and would be complaining about it for days.</p><p>“Isn’t that bad for your hair or something?” James had continued.</p><p>Sirius shrugged in reply. “Maybe? I don't know. What i do know is that my hair looks great, unlike your glorified birds nest, so it can’t be that bad.”</p><p>James pulled an over the top affronted face while he shrugged on his school robe. “1) my hair looks perfectly fine, thank you very much, and 2) that is the weirdest habit i’ve ever heard of.”</p><p>“Come on Padfoot, are you really telling me that you don’t have any weird habits? I’m not buying it.” Sirius replied.</p><p>James thought for a moment before he answered. “I never really thought about it, but i suppose i do have one or two weird habits. It’s not normal to crack my neck every night before I sleep, is it.”</p><p>“No, it is definitely not.” Sirius answered.</p><p>During the whole conversation Remus was quietly getting ready, too tired to form words well enough to join the conversation. James must not have got the message, because he still turned and asked him, “What about you Mooney? Any weird habits you want to share with the class?”</p><p>Remus just stared at them blankly for a moment, fishing through his brain to try and find an acceptable answer to the question. “I’ll hug anyone that offers it,” he said eventually.</p><p>“Actually? Anyone?” Sirius asked.</p><p>Remus shrugged. “Probably, I mean, it’s normally when I'm tired and not really paying attention. If it was someone i didn’t like or trust i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t accept one, but if anyone else opened their arms for me i would probably walk right in as a force of habit.”</p><p>“Huh,” Was all Padfoot had to say in reply.<br/>
-<br/>
Later that night, after classes, James and Sirius sat alone in the common room. It was late, so everyone else had gone to bed, but they were waiting for Remus to come back. It’s almost time for midterm exams and he has been studying under the invisibility cloak until far past curfew, meaning that when he comes back he will be extremely tired and only half conscious. They know he will need someone to help him get to sleep without passing out on the stairs when he comes back. Luckily they managed to sneak some pepper-up out of Madam Pomfrey’s stores so they can stay up without getting overly tired.</p><p>“Hey Prongs,” Sirius began conspiratorially, “Wanna test out the new tidbit we learnt about our favorite eagle in lion’s clothing.”</p><p>James grinned. “If you're talking about Remus, then I'm in.”</p><p>“He said he would hug anyone who opens their arms for him, now all that’s left to be decided is who gets an armful of tired Mooney tonight,” Sirius replied.</p><p>James rolled his eyes. “You, duh,” He deadpanned.</p><p>Sirius spluttered for a minute. “What- why me? It’s not a ‘duh’ thing. Really we should make a fair decision on this. A game of rock paper scissors should-”</p><p>“Padfoot,” James interrupted, “Do you really think you can hide the goo-goo eyes you have been making at him from me?”</p><p>“Yes?” Sirius replied sheepishly.</p><p>James rolled his eyes. “I’m insulted, really. And for the record, I've seen the ones he makes at you too. If i didn’t brush my teeth every day i would have rotten teeth from all the sugary lovey-dovey things you guys do with each other.”</p><p>Sirius went redder than a tomato. “We do not do lovey-dovey things. We do perfectly normal friend things.”</p><p>“Tell me Padfoot,” James said, “Would you ever hand feed me chocolate covered strawberries while having a picnic next to the Black Lake?”</p><p>“Well I mean if you asked nicely-” Sirius began.</p><p>“Padfood.” James deadpanned.</p><p>“Fine,” Sirius conceded, “Maybe i have a little bit of a crush on Remus and maybe we sometimes do lovey-dovey things.”</p><p>“Glad you’ve come to see the truth.”</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” Sirius huffed. </p><p>After the conversation they waited patiently for a few more minutes before the portrait was clumsily pushed open. It didn’t even close before Remus already slipped off the cloak and left it on the ground. He tiredly looked up and noticed the two boys. “You didn't have to wait up for me,” he muttered blearily, “I can get to bed myself y’know.” His sentence was punctuated by a wide yawn that Sirius couldn’t help but think was adorable.</p><p>Sirius and James shared a look before they went into action. James moved to pick up his cloak and close the portrait hole. Sirius took a few steps so that he was about a yard away from Remus and hesitantly held up his arms.</p><p>Remus barely glanced at him before he stumbled forward and fell into Sirius’s chest. He wrapped his arms loosely around Sirius and the black haired boy did the same. At that moment Sirius felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest.</p><p>He loved the feeling of Remus in his arms. They have hugged before, of course, but it was always a short, impersonal thing. They were brief moments after a huge quidditch win or after pulling off a difficult prank. Sirius cherished those moments, but as he held the sleepy werewolf in his arms he felt that nothing could compare to this. </p><p>Holding Remus just felt so right. Unlike James and Sirius, Remus was never athletic, meaning he never developed the hard muscle the other two boys sported. Instead he spent his time studying or planning a new genius prank. This makes him soft, squishy, and (in sirius’s opinion) perfect for hugging.</p><p>Sirius was startled out of his reverie when he heard James chuckle. “You look like a kid who was just given a cute little puppy to hold. I think I see hearts in your eyes.”</p><p>Sirius blushed, but didn’t let go of the boy half asleep in his arms. “Maybe I have been given one. Something wrong with that?” He said defensively.</p><p>James held up his arms and his grim widened. “No need to get defensive Pads, no one’s going to take away your cuddle-buddy.”</p><p>Sirius gently rested his chin in the soft hair of his long-time crush. “They better not. I’d be devastated,” he mumbled quietly. James was unsure if he was even meant to hear the soft admission, so he opted to ignore it.</p><p>“I’m sure you can handle him, so I'll leave you to it.” He said before heading up the stairs to their shared dorm room.</p><p>Sirius just returned to gazing Remus with the most gentle and loving eyes anyone had ever seen. </p><p>“I knew you would try and hug me eventually,” Remus muttered eventually, almost too quiet for Sirius to hear.</p><p>“Well it worked, didn’t it? Now I have an adorable bundle of Mooney in my arms and I couldn't be any happier.”</p><p>Remus just hid his face further in Sirius’s shirt, but it wasn’t enough to hide his red tinged ears.</p><p>“And for the record,” Remus began, “I would be devastated too.”</p><p>Sirius just smiled softly and pulled Remus just a little bit closer in reply.</p><p>Sirius knew that eventually they would have to talk about- whatever this is, but for now he was perfectly content to just stand there, rocking slightly while holding the love of his life close.<br/>
-<br/>
The next day was spent with the entire castle keeping a close eye on the two. After years of very obvious pining they became the entire castle’s otp. There were dozens of betting pools dedicated solely to when they got together. The extensive blushes and heart eyes that the two boys gave each other after that night were being gushed and cooed over by every student, and even some of the staff. </p><p>The day they finally announced they were together Minerva could be seen strutting around proudly, flaunting a rather large money bag and grinning at the dejected looks of the rest of the staff.</p>
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